A Critical Rescue
by Corelli Sonatas
Summary: Anna's wise words save Mary from making what would have been a foolish, costly mistake. This is what I believe should have happened at the close of Series Five, Episode Two.


"But are you certain about this?" Anna's tone was grave; she hardly ever doubted Lady Mary's judgment, but the situation at hand was troubling her greatly.

Mary sighed. "Really, Anna, I'll be fine. Here." She handed the lady's maid her coat and turned toward her vanity. Anna continued to stare at her employer, whose figure appeared slightly less confident than it had previously. "I only ask because I am concerned, milady."

"Of course," Mary nodded, not completely attentive. She slipped off her gloves and unfastened her bracelet. Anna felt the time was ripe to dissuade the woman; she quickly summoned the courage to address the severity of Lady Mary's forthcoming mistake:

"It doesn't _feel_ right, watching your ladyship disappear so oddly. Forgive me if I am wrong, but it is not in your character to go off for days to be with a friend."

"I can't tell them the _truth,_ Anna!" protested Mary, irked beyond measure with her trusted friend. "No one will know, so there is nothing to worry about -"

"But what if they _do_ find out, milady?" pressed the lady's maid, dedicated now to the prevention of her friend's foolish action - one of which she did not approve. "Do you truly want to risk your health? If one little bit of information gets out, or if someone catches you and him somewhere...that'll be the end of your prospects and so much more."

"I cannot," began Mary furiously, "believe how reckless I appear to be in your sight! How can you not trust me, when we have kept secrets together - yes, you _and_ I have done - for over a decade?" Mary thrust her bracelet upon the vanity-surface; Anna cringed and retreated to the door. "Wait," spat Mary.

"Milady?" Anna called in the softest voice. Her stomach was feeling awfully wretched; it pained her to imagine Lady Mary's potential sufferings for her inability to see reason now. And Anna felt half-responsible.

Mary noticed her lady's maid's disconcerted countenance. "I'm sorry if I am being harsh with you. Right now...I only want to be sure that Tony is the right one for me. And this -" she gestured toward her travelling-bag on the floor beside the bed - "this, I believe, will determine that."

"Very well, milady," Anna imparted quickly, her heart sinking by the second. _I've surely let her ladyship down,_ she thought with dread. Anna exited the room without another word to her employer.

...

Everything had seemed so _right_ when she'd ascended the marvellous flight of stairs. The hotel's modernity had heightened the tension she'd experienced upon picturing her lover beside her in minutes. _He will be here soon,_ she'd envisioned while her shoes clicked upon the wood flooring in the lobby. _Everything will begin so soon..._

But now her heart beat fast for another reason. Her hotel-room door had just experienced an excited rapping; Mary's eyes dilated with fear. _There can be no turning back, can there?_ wondered she, her thoughts trailing back to her conversation with Anna on the previous night.

She could not keep Tony waiting, however, and was therefore forced to open the door to yet another element of contemplation. Her love-interest stood exposed to her, his body balanced by the doorframe that his left hand gripped so eagerly. Mary inhaled excitedly and admitted, "It's so hard doing this without disguise."

The man refrained from disengaging his hand from the doorframe. "But so wonderful it is, to lie with truth." He drew nearer her now, closing the door so that it made a _click_ once it'd met the doorframe. Tony Gillingham beamed at Mary - fiercely yet compellingly - and welcomed her into his arms.

Something within the woman, however, urged her to decline his gesture. "Now, Tony," she admonished, "we mustn't add to the day's activities. What have we first on the list?"

"Well," he commenced, reaching for her arm, " we have a dinner reservation at six o'clock, and after that...we'll be back here."

Oddly the latter assertion made Mary rather uncomfortable. Anna's voice encompassed her mind with the lady's maid's very words: _If one little bit of information gets out, or if someone catches you and him somewhere...that'll be the end of your prospects and so much more._

Tony frowned when he finally detected something wrong. "Mary? Is that not a good itinerary?"

"Quite," she responded abruptly, not looking at him immediately. _Should I have asked for this?_ she began to question herself. _What if something goes wrong... What if I am being too foolish?_

Suddenly her musings fixated on her son. _If I did not marry Tony after all, George would never forgive me if he learnt about this..._ And the mere thought of a descendant of Matthew Crawley bearing such knowledge as Mary's own selfish act destroyed her.

"Tony," she started bravely, withdrawing completely from the man. He stared at her as she compiled her bag from the floor and the purse from the bed. She walked across the room to collect her thick, blue coat from the closet.

As she returned to Tony's side, Mary could tell from the west-window that it was still light out; _perhaps not too late to catch a train,_ she thought hopefully.

Yes, her heart had been of a distinct mind-set, but the real Mary Crawley had returned; and, right before her almost-lover opened his mouth to ask why the devil she'd picked up her things, Mary looked him in the eyes and apologised. "Tony, I am terribly sorry for misleading you. Perhaps I've not been myself lately, and needed to rebound on someone as kind and receptive as you... Matthew's death has had its funny way with me -"

"Wait a moment," he stopped her, grabbing her arm in an uncomfortable, _Richard-Carlisle_ manner. "I thought we were settled with this. I truly believed we'd make love tonight and tomorrow night...that we'd finally have the chance to know each other -"

"Yes, I'd thought so, too, Tony," exclaimed the woman, feeling the first drips of sweat accumulate on her brow. _Damned coat,_ she thought bitterly; it was unbearably warm in the room. But she proceeded with serious sincerity: "Do believe me when I confess that I would have enjoyed every moment of it. But now I see differently."

The man had resorted to selfishness now - or perhaps he was being normal; Mary couldn't determine whether he truly was an extraordinarily thoughtful man. Tony began his series of interrogatives with dramatic emphasis. "So you are fine with leaving me alone in Liverpool? For me to dine alone tonight, for me to sleep in this bed and pay the hotel expenses? Mary, that's not what we agreed upon!"

"I understand that, Tony," reassured Mary honestly, bowing her head momentarily to prepare her next sentence. "The more I consider our plan, the worse I feel about dishonouring my family and putting my son and mother-in-law to shame!"

Her accompaniment gaped. "Do you think so lowly of me? And why all-of-a-sudden? I don't understand you, Mary; can you think so ill of me to abandon -"

"Tony, this has nothing to do with you!" Mary interjected, though she disagreed with her words when the man took hold of her arms and forced her down onto the bed. In consequence her bag freed itself from her grasp, and Tony confiscated her purse for a moment. "Listen to me," he importuned through gritted teeth.

Mary had never beheld this man when in such a state of mental imbalance; his eyes were fuming, and his hair seemed to have sprung from its previously-tamed position. Mary decided to reason with him, as it appeared the only safe option. "I promise you, Tony...this was a last-minute decision! I do not wish anything ill of you, but now I am forced to believe that you are a dishonest man. Let me go, and I might consider otherwise!"

Pulling away from the woman who'd so painfully crushed his dreams, Tony Gillingham grunted and withdrew all force from her. "You may never hear from me again, Mary," he guaranteed. "For so long I thirsted to remain near you until you accepted my proposal, but now I regret that aimless prospect." He glared at her mildly - just enough to satisfy his present disgust with her, for he still had feelings for Mary - and turned toward the hotel-room door. Without glancing again at the woman, Tony exited the room and shut the door behind him.

Sighing, Mary let her back fall freely against the comforter. The strangest feeling came upon her as she realised how alone she was - no Anna to see to her preparations for the fast-approaching evening _(Oh, dear,_ she thought thankfully, _Anna has saved me yet again!) _- and the more Mary considered her idle position on the hotel bed, the more she hungered to be in her own room back at Downton.

"Well," she told herself, surprised by the strength with which she'd risen above her previous dilemma, "I suppose I should hurry back home. Mr. Blake deserves an apology..." She chuckled as she pondered his face when she would reveal her ended interest in Tony Gillingham. "Perhaps Charles deserves more than that."


End file.
